Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
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GIST: "The State Bar of Texas’ Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel has fined and imposed a probated suspension against Starr County District Attorney Gocha A. Ramirez for indicting a woman who sought an abortion in 2022 on a charge of murder.
Claire Reynolds, public affairs counsel for the bar, confirmed Thursday morning that ruling against Ramirez was over the indictment of Lizelle Herrera, who on Aug. 8, 2022, was arrested on a charge of murder because she sought a “self-induced abortion.”
On April 10, 2022, Ramirez issued a press release saying that the charge against Herrera would be dismissed.
“In reviewing applicable Texas law, it is clear that Ms. Herrera cannot and should not be prosecuted for the allegation against her,” the release stated.
The case set off a firestorm across the United States as media outlets and advocacy groups learned of the charges against Herrera, which were first reported by The Monitor.
Attempts to reach Herrera at the time were not successful.
The judgment against Ramirez followed an investigative hearing that happened on March 1, 2023 and Dec. 6, 2023.
The committee found that assistant district attorneys under Ramirez’s supervision pursued criminal homicide charges against Herrera for acts that were “clearly not criminal.”
“Respondent failed to refrain from prosecuting a charge that was known not to be supported by probable cause,” the order states.
It further said that an assistant district attorney consulted with Ramirez prior to presenting the case against Herrera to a grand jury.
“Respondent knowingly permitted the conduct of the Assistant District Attorney under his direct supervision,” the order stated. “With knowledge of the violation of disciplinary rules by Respondent’s Assistant District Attorneys, Respondent knowingly failed to take reasonable remedial action to avoid or mitigate the consequences of the Assistant District Attorneys.”
Ramirez denied that he was aware of the facts of the case, “nor that he was ever briefed on the facts of the case, prior to the matter being presented to the Grand Jury.”
“In connection with the investigation made the basis of this disciplinary matter, Respondent knowingly made a false statement of material fact in his written response to the complaint,” the order stated.
The State Bar of Texas fined Ramirez $1,250 for violating the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct.
“The period of probated suspension shall begin on April 1, 2024 and shall end on March 31, 2025,” the order states."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater's attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it's the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-12348801
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MORE VALUABLE WORDS: "As a former public defender, Texas' refusal to delay Ivan Cantu's execution to evaluate new evidence is deeply worrying for the state of our legal system. There should be no room for doubt in a death penalty case. The facts surrounding Cantu's execution should haunt all of us."
